Saturday, December 17, 2011

Man Replaces Missing Thumb with a Toe (7 pics)

A British construction worker 29 year old James Byrne severed his thumb in a saw accident last December, he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to return to work again.

Surgeons attempted to reattach the missing digit but were ultimately unsuccessful as the thumb was too badly damaged. Upon realizing that he couldn’t return to his chosen profession without two working thumbs, Byrne decided to let surgeons amputate his left toe and graft it onto his hand.

The operation took eight hours, with one team of surgeons working on the toe and another on the hand. Days later, Byrne could walk about and wiggle his new thumb.

“It is a very complex micro-surgical procedure,” said Doctor, “which involves re-attaching the bone, nerves, arteries, tendons, ligaments and skin of the toe to the hand.”

Although Byrne’s balance will be affected at first, doctors say that he will soon be walking and jogging normally. Surgeons may perform more operations to make the toe look more like a thumb.